W3C

– DRAFT –
ARIA and Assistive Technologies Community Group Weekly Teleconference

20 November 2024

Attendees

Present
Dean, howard-e, IsaDC, james, Joe_Humbert, jugglinmike, Matt_King_
Regrets
-
Chair
-
Scribe
jugglinmike

Meeting minutes

Matt_King_: I didn't make an agenda because it looks like there are still quite a few unresolved conflicts in the test queue, and I'd like to focus on getting those resolved today

Matt_King_: We have other stuff waiting to add to the test queue, so we'll talk about that after

Matt_King_: Is there anything else that should be on the agenda?

Joe_Humbert: I reported a few issues. They are related to one of the test plans, but they're higher-level

Joe_Humbert: I don't know if they impact other test plans

Matt_King_: Got it. We'll add that to the agenda

Joe_Humbert: Also, Testers can no longer update the version of the software that they use. When I went to test, it was locked to the version that the bot used

Joe_Humbert: I did not raise an issue for this

Matt_King_: I noticed that when I opened a Safari test plan on Windows, it didn't even tell me I was using the wrong browser

Matt_King_: I think there used to be a button on the test page where you could change the version information about the browser, anyway... And I guess the AT, as well

Matt_King_: Do you mind raising an issue for that?

Joe_Humbert: Sure

Matt_King_: Thanks, then we can get that tracked and get it into the right place

Bot issues

VoiceOver bot providing incorrect output when testing Action Menu Button Example Using element.focus(), Test 1, V24.10.31)

github: w3c/aria-at#1160

Matt_King_: This is the issue Joe_Humbert was referencing just now. I've renamed it to be focused on the bot

Joe_Humbert: I have updated the AT response reported by the bot, is that a problem?

howard-e: That's fine. Whatever we need, we can find in the logs

IsaDC: I have NOT updated the output reported by the bot for the test plan run assigned to me

Joe_Humbert: This is limited to the VoiceOver Bot. The AT responses reported by the NVDA Bot have been accurate

<Joe_Humbert> w3c/aria-at#1163 for can't change AT or browser version

Matt_King_: We use different OS APIs for different screen readers. I'm wondering at which layer these problems exist, and if it's the screen reader, if that could make it hard to solve the problem this way

Testing status

Matt_King_: We have 8 plans in candidate review, 3 plans in draft review, and 2 plans ready to be added to the queue (I just don't want to add more to the queue until we're a little more caught up with the testing)

IsaDC: I agree on waiting

Matt_King_: This morning, I spent my time on conflicts rather than the slider test plan. We'll get it into the "ready to test" soon

Matt_King_: The question right now is: how far can we get these three waiting in the queue out of the queue?

Action menu button with element.focus

IsaDC: All the testers are here

IsaDC: I'm planning on finishing my testing by the end of this week

IsaDC: Luke from PAC told me that he will be testing during this week

IsaDC: And Joe_Humbert already finished

Matt_King_: So we could get this wrapped up this week

Matt_King_: I suppose that if there are any conflicts, you and Luke can work it out this week, IsaDC

IsaDC: Yes, and I can publish once it's ready

Matt_King_: Cool, that's simple. Thank you, IsaDC

Disclosure

Matt_King_: We have two screen readers totally done, and we're 85% complete with VoiceOver

IsaDC: The conflicts reported are the same across test plans

IsaDC: I'm going to re-run my tests because it seems to be an issue with the previous version of either Safari or VoiceOver

IsaDC: If I get the same results, I'm going to ask somebody else to run them, as well

Matt_King_: Dean, what version of macOS were you running when you got your results?

Dean: I was on 14.5, as I recall, which I believe is what the test specifies we were supposed to be using

Dean: I did upgrade. I don't have a comparison of the same test before and after the upgrade, but my experience matches IsaDC. It looks like the problem was addressed

Dean: I got through everything but three tests on the disclosure yesterday

Matt_King_: Last week, we were talking about test 14. Now, I see there are no conflicts in test 14.

Matt_King_: It was a case where some folks were getting output and other folks were not

Matt_King_: How did that get resolved? I was looking at that issue before the meeting, and the issue was still open. When I look at the conflicts page, there is no conflict for test 14

IsaDC: I think it got fixed with the latest version, as well

Matt_King_: I don't know if it's fixed. It says that there's no output.

IsaDC: Ah, not "fixed", but there is no longer a conflict

Matt_King_: The AT responses are now consistently bad

Dean: Correct

Dean: I didn't re-test test number 14, though. I had done that before I upgrade. If I need to go back and run test 14 again, I will. Perhaps the issue is that the new version is fixed and my results from before are not up-to-date

Dean: I can run test 14 right now as an example...

Dean: But I saw several issues with bot. I did kind of destroy some evidence as I went along because I changed what the Bot reported to reflect what I observed locally

Matt_King_: Did you report that as an issue?

Dean: No. This is something I assumed last week and thought that I was cracked.

Dean: I will go back to test 4, raise an issue, paste in what the bot said and what I observed locally

jugglinmike: Along the lines of Joe_Humbert's report, could you re-title that to make it clear that the problem is likely with the bot rather than with the test itself?

Dean: Will do

Dean: We have conflicts on tests 3, 4, and 9

IsaDC: I have upgraded, and I will be changing my results. That doesn't guarantee that the conflicts will go away. Something tells me that I will be running the whole test plan again

Matt_King_: I think it would be unrealistic to expect that we will get this all resolved asynchronously. We'll likely be talking about this in the next meeting on December 4

Dean: I will have those done before tomorrow

Dean: I think what IsaDC reported initially--I think she probably got the correct test results and reported them correctly. I think Apple fixed something in between versions. I expect that she will observe different results without conflicts when she re-runs them

Matt_King_: I think that's it for this test plan. That's all we can talk about and resolve at this moment. There's just some more work to do, here

Navigation menu button

IsaDC: This is the one with the hints

Matt_King_: Right, but last week, we decided on a path forward

Matt_King_: We have 10 conflicts with VoiceOver, and we're not totally done with JAWS yet, either

Matt_King_: Hadi has two tests done. He is not present today

IsaDC: I have completely finished this with JAWS

Matt_King_: I didn't look at THESE conflicts this morning

IsaDC: Do we have conflicts? Oh, dear

Matt_King_: Hadi is recording the JAWS tutor message, and you didn't record the JAWS tutor message

Matt_King_: That shouldn't do it, I guess...

Matt_King_: Hadi has rendered a passing verdict for the assertion regarding the "collapsed" state, but that information is definitely not in the AT response he reported

IsaDC: I have noticed that with JAWS, sometimes it's easy to tick the wrong radio button. That has happened to me right after we switched from radio buttons to check boxes

Matt_King_: I found it easier with the radio buttons, myself, because it clearly says "yes" or "no"

IsaDC: Sometimes JAWS checks the wrong one

james: I have some concerns about that UI change. I know that ultimately, we don't have a binary state. But check boxes seem less prone to error

Matt_King_: Actually, I feel that radio buttons are less prone to error

Matt_King_: If Luke is available for this test plan, that's potentially really helpful. If Hadi isn't able to wrap it up before Thanksgiving

Matt_King_: I want to get this out there to collect feedback from Apple

Matt_King_: IsaDC, could you ask Hadi if he'll be able to get this done before Thanksgiving? If not, could you ask Luke to take over?

Matt_King_: So that's JAWS. Now, for VoiceOver

Matt_King_: There are 10 conflicts. Are all of these conflicts related to the hints?

IsaDC: They are

Matt_King_: Then we can fix this up

Matt_King_: Dean, are you okay if IsaDC and I edit your results to be consistent with our discussion last week?

Matt_King_: That is to say: it doesn't pass if it's only conveyed in this hint

Dean: I didn't know that we arrived at a decision

Matt_King_: Yeah, we arrived at it last week, and I took an action item to document the resolution. We will record the hints, but we will not consider the content of hints when rendering verdicts

Dean: I'm cool with that. Change away

Matt_King_: Okay

Matt_King_: There is one part of the rationale that we discussed last week which is slightly murky...

Matt_King_: In the rationale, we said that we can't consider it part of the assertion verdict because we said that if hints are turned off (which they often are in screen readers), then the required part of the base output will might not be present in the base output

Matt_King_: What if the assertion is optional? Then it really doesn't matter if the hint is on or off

Matt_King_: If we have an optional assertion, and it is only included as part of the hint?

Matt_King_: For consistency, we would say it is "not supported", but in that case, the rationale we used for not considering hint test doesn't really hold water

Matt_King_: Let me restate

Matt_King_: We have a reason for why we're not considering the hint when arriving at a verdict

Matt_King_: That reason is that even though hints are on by default, we know that (for certain screen readers), large portions of the user base turns them off

Matt_King_: So we're saying that the hint cannot be part of the "base output" (because people frequently turn hints off), so the output that is required for interoperability would not be available for most users

Matt_King_: We're saying that those users who turn off hints are not getting something that is required for interoperability

Matt_King_: However, any assertion that is a "may" is not required for interoperability. So it seems as though we shouldn't care about whether the hint is on or off

Matt_King_: The rationale for ignoring hints doesn't really hold water. The only reason we would ignore the hint for an optional assertion is to preserve consistency

james: If we say that "may" assertions can take hint output into account, then testers need to take assertion priority into account. We don't ask them to do that right now

james: I think this risks the human nature of "assuming a given assertion is a 'may' because it has been a 'may' so many other times" even when it changes for one edge case

Matt_King_: Yes, that's a good point. We shouldn't require Testers to consider assertion priority for exactly that reason.

Matt_King_: I definitely need to document this. I'm amazed at the number of decisions we've made; it can be difficult to remember the rationale for all the things we've decided. Documentation is really important, and I'm taking action items to keep it up-to-date.

Matt_King_: So, disclosure is going to be sitting with us for at least one more meeting

Matt_King_: For the other two plans, we at least have a path forward. I will be in conversation with IsaDC to move them along

Matt_King_: For the meeting on December 4, we'll have a bunch of stuff for people to do. We'll also hopefully be putting the "disclosure navigation menu" plan to bed

IsaDC: I can't believe it's almost December, already

Matt_King_: Same here!

Matt_King_: That's it for today, everyone. Thank you so much for your dedication to the project!

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All speakers: Dean, howard-e, IsaDC, james, Joe_Humbert, jugglinmike, Matt_King_

Active on IRC: Joe_Humbert, jugglinmike, Matt_King_